Event Information

Relive a shipboard expedition from 1913, in search of a bowhead whale. Tom Baione, Boeschenstein Director of the Museum's Library, recounts the tale of the planning for the Borden Alaska Expedition, led by Museum scientist and explorer Roy Chapman Andrews aboard the schooner The Adventuress. Using images and materials from the Library and Mammalogy Department’s archive, Baione weaves a tale of misadventure in the waters off the territory of Alaska.

The story of the sleek ship on its 1913 maiden journey provides a framework for the expedition, which repeatedly averted disaster and inadvertently contributed to bowhead whale conservation. Today the 101-year-old Adventuress, a national historic landmark,continues to ply the waters of the Pacific Northwest as floating environmental classroom.

Read more about Roy Chapman Andrews and his whale research in a blog post.